Kept dear in the hearts of the first Syl, in their most sacred of forests and the foundation of the living cities that those lands provided to them as their home, grew the Vanatheon. The massive trees that took root at the beginning of all flora tower above the landscape in great domes that shelter and protect the race that many believe they consider their charges to protect.
Known as the Willoaks to the various Erigin bloodlines, for the farthest reaches of their spreading branches sprout tender and flowing vines that seem, at first glace, as frail and wind-swept as the willows that grow in the quiet river valleys.
Not so, for one who has centuries to watch in amazement as those slender shoots entwine about the seeking tendrils, branches, and trunks of the other great Vanatheon around them, growing the hardened bark and girth than allows them to become almost one, embracing each other as they continue to grow.
In the vast cities of the Sylvae, the emerald-eyed Syl that remain true to and connected with the forests from which their first ancestors arose, the Vanatheon grow in ever widening rings, encircling the Mother Tree that has given life to each ring that strives to support, connect with, and defend her.
In the oldest of these, Vana’Te’Elenon, the Mother Tree towers more than six hundred feet above the forest floor, with branches reaching more than half her height to all sides, embracing the limbs of her first children, those Vanatheon who stand only slightly less than her massive height.
So it goes, with each encircling tier younger and more populous, until the outer edge, the farthest reach of the interconnected beings that are known as a Vanatheon Rise, has extended almost two miles from the great trunk of their Mother Tree.
Throughout, all of the Vanatheon within this family are linked in ways that only the wisest of Syl Sages can begin to fathom; their thoughts, shared. Their hopes and dreams formed from the experiences of each as one.
These are the hearts of the great Sylvae forest…
